Tag: creates

If you think Furbies have become extinct, think again, as musical hacker “Look Mum No Computer” has decided to revive a number of them to create his own Furby Organ.

To make this horrifying yet awesome instrument, he placed 44—yes, 44—of these strange creatures on top of an organ frame with a keyboard and several dials, along with a switch labeled ominously as “collective awakening.”

Each individual Furby is controlled by two Arduino Nano boards, and as you might imagine, the whole project took a massive amount of work to wire things together. You can see the incredible results in the first video below, while the second gives a bit more background on the device’s origin.

SAS, a provider of data analytics software, has created a new global division dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT) to help organisations from manufacturing to retail and healthcare reap the benefits of IoT.

The company’s new IoT division will be led by Jason Mann, who takes up the role of VP IoT. SAS adds the division will ‘develop new partnerships and expand existing ones to bring together best in class technology and expertise’.

Companies in SAS’ remit include GE Transportation, Lockheed Martin and Octo Telematics. The former is enlisting SAS to uncover use patterns through the Internet of Things that keep its trains on track. GE Transportation’s vehicles are given edge devices, managing hundreds of data elements each second, to optimise locomotive operation.

“The IoT is set to transform the way businesses in all industries think, act and sell,” said Peter Pugh-Jones, head of technology at SAS UK & Ireland. “That progress will be founded on data. The value of the IoT is in the information it produces about the world around us.

“SAS’s new IoT division will provide companies with the tools and capabilities they need to analyse and understand that data. With SAS they’ll be able to use the IoT to help make more intelligent decisions, introduce stronger AI and add value everywhere from production to supply chain to marketing and beyond.”

Plenty of organisations are moving towards creating a specific IoT division. One, as sister publication Enterprise CIOpreviously explored, enterprise mobility management (EMM) software provider MobileIron created a VP IoT role this time last year, filled by Wind River alumnus Santhosh Nair. This move can also relate to revenues; as of this year, Software AG is reporting cloud and IoT revenues separately.

If you’d like a rebel fighter pilot suit, complete with the automated chest box, then look no further than this excellent build from “badjer1.”

It features a chest box with the same dimensions seen in the movies that lights up randomly, and even allows bored pilots to play a game of Pong on its double-LED matrix display using a dial next to it.

The Arduino Uno-powered device can also scroll through marquee displays featuring X-Wings and TIE Fighters, and play the Imperial March as required.

12-year-old Savva Osipov has grown so far up hearing tales of the old Soviet Union from his father, including about the gadgets and technology that was then available. One particular device that caught his attention is the “Nu, pogodi!” portable game that his dad saved from that time. This inspired him to build another simple handheld, a Flappy Bird console, running on an Arduino Nano.

The project’s software is based on code by Themistokle Benetatos, and he designed and 3D-printed a custom case to tie all the necessary game elements (Arduino, screen, battery, speaker, button, etc.) together.

If you suppose that electromagnetically-propelled projectiles are strictly the purview of well-funded government research labs, think again! Using two sets of coils wrapped around custom 3D-printed base structures and an Arduino Nano for control, YouTuber “Gyro” created his own coilgun capable of propelling steel fast enough to dent a piece of wood.

When fired, a photodiode at the end of each electromagnet coil sends a signal to the Arduino. This, in turn, shuts off the coil, allowing it freely escape the barrel.

As noted in his Instructables write-up, the gun is constructed without large capacitors, which can be expensive and dangerous. Instead, two LiPo battery packs are combined to produce around 22 volts, though this and the number of coils used, could be increased to produce a more powerful device!